Monthly Archives: April 2014

Today my daughter’s school academic results were declared. As usual she has fared well and got A+ in all the subjects in 2nd Terminals and overall A+ for the full academic year. I really feel proud of her.

Gone are those days where school results use to come by post. After our final exams we or our parents were never called to see the final exam result. It used to come by post at our home. And how eagerly I waited for the postman that every afternoon when I use to see the postman in the building I happened to ask him immediately whether my result was there with him. Normally end of April was the time when results were distributed via postman.

I don’t think now-a-days such practise is followed by any of the schools. Anyways time has changed from my school days to my daughter school days. She will be now in 4th grade from next academic year and time seems to be flying at the wink of the eye. From next academic year her school timings are changing so has her division changed too. She is upset with this change. Mainly the division change as most of her friends are scattered in other divisions. From morning I have tried my best to convince her that the change is good. This will help her make new friends in addition with the old ones. She is not yet fully convinced. I know she will soon accept the change too.

Even I and my wife were discussing about the change in timings of the school. How we will need to tackle this change was the main point. Till last year my daughter school time was 11.30 am to 5.30 pm and now from this year its morning time i.e. 7.15 am till 1.30 pm. Change is welcome but the timing is the issue. Mornings are always hectic for my wife as I leave for office with my Tiffin and she prepares full lunch for me. Change in my daughter’s school time means changes in my wife schedule. This means new strategic planning will be needed. Lots of changes will be required in order that both (I and my daughter) leave on time for their respective destinations. I know my wife is good in this matter and she will manage it well and that too very quickly. Thanks to my wife in advance for this.

I always preferred morning hours as school time and this change is most welcome change in my life.

After 2 days Mumbai have its V day…. So all of Mumbaikars… gear up and don’t make any other plans except to go and cast your Vote. The much hyped General Lok Sabha Elections which is schedule on 24th April for Mumbai constitute is just round the corner.

Personally, I believe the only way we can reclaim our government is by taking part in politics. Our strength is our numbers and if our number is informed and involved, we can reclaim our government. You all must have noticed that this year the number of voting turnout percentage has on an average increased by 10% for all the other states in India. So Mumbaikars lets not be left behind from the rest and let us show all of them that we too can overtake the other states. The same goes for all my friends and readers residing in other parts of India too.

So please don’t miss your chance to vote this time. Each vote counts and your vote will make the difference. You are equally important to India. You are one of the responsible citizen who has got this right for exercising your vote. Don’t let it go waste by not voting. The Constitution of India has granted you the power to vote and thus, please make good use of this power that is bestowed upon you.

Pledge from me and I suppose all of you must do:-

I, an Indian citizen, take oath that I will exercise my valuable right given by the Constitution of India, of casting my vote, under every possible circumstance and whenever I get the opportunity. Election of our representative by voting is not only our right but also our duty towards the country.

I will make all possible efforts to use my vote to elect a public representative who would meet nation’s expectations and,

I also take oath that I would also encourage other people to vote with awareness.

It has been long 22 years since I completed my school and there are still lots of sweet memories which always are fresh in my mind.

I still remember those school days of mine where in I (maybe not only myself but all the boys of the school) used to like one of our teacher a lot. As far as I recollect she use to teach us History subject. History was a subject which no one liked it. The old ancient discoveries and then The Great Shivaji and Akbar regime stories were the syllabus during our school days. So many dates to remember, like the birth year of Mahatma Gandhi, the first battle of Panipat and then the second battle, the date when Shivaji killed Afzal Khan and so on …. as if we had to set up a calendar app in our mind and feed in those dates so that we can recollect back during exam time.

In spite of not having any liking for this subject myself (and I suppose rest of the boys gang too) we always use to eagerly wait for this period. She was one of the beauties in our school. No doubts that we had many good-looking teachers, as our school was a convent school and the area where it’s located has majority of Christians staying around it.

Somehow I always had more liking for only one teacher. I always use to wait for the day when we had history period and on that day my eagerness to see her use to increase more since history period was most of the time after the long break. Her sweet smile still flashes in front of my eyes. I still am able to recollect her sweet voice whenever I think of the school days. She had some sort of charisma in her. Her dress up style always left an impact on me. Her cat walk, her way to teach & explain things was amazing. And on top of this, her make up and high heel shoes which use to make noise added additional attraction in her. She was simply “Gorgeous”.

I remember once incident where in my immediate neighbour sharing the same bench with me suddenly complained to madam about headache. And to all of our surprise madam walked down till our bench and gently moved her hand over my friend’s head and unbelievable happened …. within seconds his headache had vanished. I always envied this friend of mine as I knew that he was just acting for headache so that madam can come and give him sympathy. And from that day I always thought of doing such mischief but unluckily ended up doing nothing.

I hope all my class mates reading this post and especially the guys would recollect those old school days. I purposely have not written the name of the teacher for personal reason.

The book “Like it Happened Yesterday” by Ravinder Singh inspired me to write this post.

Today morning, I witnessed one more fight in the Mumbai locals. Unlike the last adventure this time it was not for a seat. I know those travelling in trains in Mumbai must be thinking that it is very common and happens every day. So are we really commuting to reach our destination or travelling to fight and remove frustration or anger on someone?

Today’s incidence took an ugly turn when a person tried boarding the train and he mistakenly pushed another person who was standing near the gate. Although the first guy said sorry but the verbal abuse started . In no time the train compartment turned into a WWF ring. The passengers sitting were the boundary of the ring although no ropes but with so many referees trying their best to take control on the situation in the compartment turned ring . Yes literally fist fight started between both of them and they were falling from side of passengers to other side of passengers who were trying to save themselves from getting hurt. All this lasted for few minutes and there was lot of chaos in the compartment.

Interesting to note that all this happened in first class compartment between 2 gentlemen who were neatly dressed up and were possessing high-tech gadgets with them. After all these years of train traveling in second and first class I have concluded that if you have a travel pass of 1st class compartment means you own the railways. No doubts there are more cultured gentlemen and more decency in 1st class but people cannot bear discomfort. The amount of people traveling and that too in peak hours can lead to little pushing or discomfort. We all have to realise that life is full of adjustment and try to adjust so that yourself as well as others are happy too. There is no point losing your temper and getting into fights with anyone. We all want to reach to our destination on time. Stay calm and be happy.

Hello all …. This is my first half century, yes the 50th Post of my blog since I started to write few months back. Actually I was posting something else and then I realised that it is my first half century and I need to celebrate it. So I have postponed my new post for next time and am posting this one right now.

My way of celebration means opening a Champagne bottle or having beer, but here I would like to celebrate my joy with my readers. So Thank You from deep within my heart to all my followers, regular readers, fans and visitors all around the world for reading, commenting and liking all my previous posts.

I have specially categorised my followers and readers into 2 sub category. I know all of you are reading my post but very few of them comment or express their views on this page. So I have accounted them as Active readers. And rest of them as Dormant readers. So all the dormant readers please wake up and do write about your thoughts on my post.

Once again I appreciate and am grateful to each one of you for your support without which I would not be able to make my first half century. Thank you for believing in me, my idea and my writing.

You getting it wrong here … I am not referring to any cricketer or celebrity or female, but it is “Parker Pen”. I always had and still have crush on Fountain Pen and specially Parker brand. From childhood I used to carry atleast one Parker pen with me daily to school. I never used to keep it in my compass box. I would secretly hide it in one of the small pockets of my school bag, due to the fear that I might drop it or break it or lose it if it’s in my compass box (don’t know why I use to think such when I was small ). But this fear of mine has always taken toll on me and I have ended up losing / misplacing many such Parker pens till now.

Few of the incidents are very much in my memory and all due to my negligence for sure.

I remember last year when I was on official visit to my Bangalore office, at the airport security check, I had to keep all my belongings in the tray and pass through the security check. And how forgetful I can be that I picked up rest of the things from the tray and left my pen in it. I realise this when I boarded the flight and then I could do nothing much .

Another incident I am able to recollect, few years back, I lost one of my Parker pen while travelling in Mumbai locals. As usual, the amount of people wanting to board in the train during morning hours is unimaginable and I also was one of them. And after lots of efforts, I managed to get in the train but unfortunately I left my Parker pen outside. I felt that my pen has fallen but there was nothing I could do or pick it up. I was pushed by others and found myself already inside the train . From that day onwards I never kept any Parker pen in my shirt pocket.

Today, again one more heart breaking day, an unfortunate day to lose one more of my Parker collection. I was changing the ink cartridge and while doing so God knows from where I got so much strength in me that I broke the plastic part of the lid to be fitted. This time I did not misplace it but I myself broke it. I have the pen with me in 2 parts and no fevicol or feviquick can help to join it in one piece. Sob sob…..

I really am regretting as to why did I put pressure on the pen today and why could I not handle it gently with soft hands. Year after year my collection of Parker’s is reducing. It is high time I need to start adding more. And all these pens till now have been gifted to me from someone or the other. So losing them makes me feel bad and more emotional.

So now since all of you know about my secret love, I am expecting few more additions in my collection of Parker soon …..

Flash strike by the drivers and the conductors of BEST (Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport) has paralysed our aamchi Mumbai. Yesterday morning all of sudden employees of BEST decided to go on strike due to some management issue. This step of not reporting to work left many Mumbaikars in trouble. This was a surprise gift to all of us on the first day of the new financial year .

Today also the strike continues inspite of the order from HC to return back to work to all the employees of the BEST. For me there is not much difference of the strike. My home is walk able distance from railway station and I am habituated to walk to my office. Since last 2 weeks I had started traveling in bus to my office due to the rise in temperature. Today also I tried my best to get hold of a cab but all my efforts were in vain. So instead of waiting in the heat for a cab I decided to walk. And last 2 days walking under this heat stroke has taken toll on me.

Think about others who stay far away from railway stations or travel by bus to office, it has been a nightmare for them. Why can’t our government have an alternate system in such cases? First of all a heavy penalty must be imposed to all those who are part of this flash strike. They don’t have the rights to harass common man . Why can’t our government be ready with a disaster system in such cases? This is not the first time flash strike has taken place in Mumbai. Many more such strikes had happened before also, be it for buses or local trains which are counted as the lifeline of Mumbai and if anyone of these stops then it creates a chaos in the city. What steps has our government taken to curb such menace in our aamchi Mumbai? It is high time that Bombay Municipal Corporation takes some stringent action to avoid such instances in future and stop playing with common man’s woes .